Inside 'The Shards' Premiere (Basically Our Super Bowl)

In 2023, I said I wouldn't watch unless Jacob Elordi was cast. Oh well!

If you read Nylon.com between the years of 2023 and 2024 or you’ve ever read Language Arts, you know the release of Ryan Murphy’s “The Shards” is basically a national holiday for us.

Layla and I have never recommended a single book more. “The Shards” is our favorite gay panic book; our favorite 600-page book and even our favorite Bret Easton Ellis book.

To the uninitiated, to re-use my description from a 2023 Nylon story, the 600-page not-not autobiographical novel follows 17-year-old Bret and a group of prep-school students in 1981 Los Angeles: Think convertibles speeding on Mulholland, quaaludes, horseback riding in Malibu.

Bret becomes increasingly paranoid about a local serial killer who seems to be getting closer to the friend group — particularly after the arrival of transfer student Robert Mallory, a charismatic, devastatingly handsome character who inspires such rabid attraction in Bret, who is closeted, that he experiences full-blown panic attacks. It’s a claustrophobic, panicky book that is miss-your-train-stop addictive and exquisitely vulnerable.

my mom’s review of Language Arts…Los Angeles ‘80s prep school alum-approved!

We’ve been having fun with “The Shards” for years. Layla fan-casted “The Shards” for Language Arts in the fall of 2024. (Spoiler alert…none of our guesses came true. But then again, at that point, that freaky genius Kristoffer Borgli was set to direct.) In 2023, I wrote a piece for Nylon titled “I Won’t Watch The Shards Adaptation Unless Jacob Elordi Is Cast.” Well, that didn’t happen either!

we stand by these 2024 predictions

Nevertheless, we all persisted. And on Monday, I did, in fact, watch it. And honestly? It’s pretty good.

I covered the premiere and after-party for The New York Times’ Styles section, which you can read here. The story has it all: pics of Kaia Gerber and her mother Cindy Crawford, ‘80s nostalgia, needle drop spoilers, an interview with Ryan Murphy and more. What it doesn’t have is my personal behind the scenes pics, which I feel compelled to share below.